PHILADELPHIA -- This was supposed to be a night about the Heat's All-Star replacement (Goran Dragic) against the Sixers' All-Star snub (Ben Simmons); of two famously feuding centers squaring up in Joel Embiid and Hassan Whiteside; of two teams in Eastern Conference playoff contention squaring off to help their seeding.

Instead: Embiid had an off night, Whiteside barely played, Dragic barely made a blip and Simmons was solid.

Maybe spotlight should have been on Dario Saric the whole time. The Sixers forward stole it regardless. At least, in the first quarter he did.

By the end of the fourth quarter, that almost didn't matter. Despite taking a 28-point lead early in the final frame, Miami brought it all the way back to four points with 23.1 seconds left on a three-pointer...and Philadelphia promptly turned it over.

Ultimately, the Sixers were fine and won 103-97, snapping a three-game losing streak against a Heat team that entered Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday night with the Eastern Conference's fourth-best record. The Sixers (25-24) still sit at eighth in the conference standings following the victory.

Sixers coach Brett Brown attributed some of the collapse to pulling Embiid earlier than usual -- with that 28-point lead -- to allow his All-Star to get a little extra rest in advance of his first back-to-back games of his NBA career. Embiid is expected to play in Saturday's game against the Pacers.

"We're up 28 points, we're at home, you're about to play Joel's first back to back...I took him out about a minute earlier than normally he comes out and they started making their way," Brown said.

Saric started the night off hot for the Sixers after he made all five of his shot attempts in the first quarter, scoring 12 points. The Sixers led 24-23 at the end of the first quarter.

By halftime they led 51-41 after a Trevor Booker put-back narrowly beat the buzzer.

At the end of the third quarter, the Sixers led 86-60.

Of course, it's never that easy -- with 11:04 remaining, the Sixers took a 90-62 lead.

Then Miami went on a 20-1 run over the next six minutes, finally broken by an Embiid dunk and Simmons fadeaway jumper back-to-back. It was a momentary recovery -- the Heat only trailed 97-92 with 1:58 remaining.

The Sixers finally pulled away on an Embiid jumper with 57.7 seconds left.

Saric cooled off after a hot first quarter, but still finished with 17 points, with 10 rebounds, four assists, two steals and three 3-pointers.

Outside of the patented, late fourth-quarter collapse, the Sixers had found consistent production across the entire starting lineup -- all five starters scored at least 10 points and none scored 20. As a team, the Sixers finished with 28 assists and 10 turnovers -- including five in the final quarter.

As for Dragic, picked as an NBA All-Star replacement over Simmons earlier this week, the Serbian point guard didn't play the final 16 minutes of the game as Miami mounted its comeback. He finished with 10 points, two rebounds, one assist and two turnovers in 22 minutes.

Simmons, on the other hand, scored a game-high 20 points and added six rebounds, five assists and two steals in 35 minutes.

The Sixers will travel to Indiana on Saturday for a 7 p.m. game against the Pacers.

Player of the game: Saric.

'The Homie' had a fast start which ultimately might've tipped the scales in the Sixers favor, even if he cooled off the rest of the way. Embiid finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds and four assists...with six turnovers. Simmons led all scorers with 20 points.

Embiid and Whiteside feuded during a pre-season game and brought it onto social media afterward. Nearly four months later, the two talented 7-footers finally squared off for the first time in a game that actually counts.

It was supposed to be Embiid vs. Whiteside.

It turned into Embiid vs. Adebayo.

Whiteside got into foul trouble early and only played 18 minutes, accumulating four points and nine rebounds.

"You could've talked about the entertainment side of those two going at each other," Brown said of Embiid and Whiteside, "but with Bam I felt like Joel could get deeper. I think Whiteside is a very, very good defenisve player...but I thought we had maybe more of an advantage with Bam just more from a weight and physical standpoint."

Embiid bit his tongue after the game.

Whiteside "is a great player," Embiid said. "I have a lot of respect for him but, you know, we won the game. That's all I care about."

More Markelle

Another day, another video of Markelle Fultz shooting the ball pre-game. This time, it was mostly stationary short-range shots, free throws with some dunks and fadeaways mixed in.

There was a moment of silence before the national anthem honoring longtime NBA player Rasual Butler, who died in a car crash this week. Butler was a Philadelphia native and La Salle product.

Heat center Kelly Olynyk was assessed a technical foul with 43.5 seconds left in the third quarter.

Brett Brown said he was in contact with former Sixers guard Isaiah Canaan, now with the Suns, who suffered a gruesome injury on Friday. Brown texted with Canaan and said he's "in good spirits."

The Sixers celebrated "Brotherly Love" night on Friday, honoring their cross-town neighbor Philadelphia Eagles as they prepare to play in Super Bowl LII against the New England Patriots on Sunday. As part of the event, the first 10,000 fans to arrive to Wells Fargo Center received greeen Brotherly Love t-shirts displaying both the Sixers and Eagles logos. Fans sitting courtside received "underdog" masks, and every Sixers player was gifted a customized Eagles jersey with their name on it.